The Back kick

[Xtschneider]

I see people use it all the time, and I'm wondering, is it really that important? I personally rarely use it unless i'm very confident. I've always felt it's a bad idea to put your back to an opponent? Thoughts on the matter?

[tkd_person89]

The back kick in my opinion is a very good kick. It has such force that you showing your back for that very short, split second wouldn't matter much. The force of the Taekwondo back kick is enough to keep your opponents at bay and it is also a devastating kick once it connects.

The back kick - Trademark kick of the martial art of Taekwondo...

[Maxx]

When Muay Thai first started becoming prevalent in the mid to late 80's a lot of people began dropping a lot of their linear kicking techniques like the side kick and the back kick. A well trained thai fighter would just sweep it aside and slam his shin into the back of your thigh when your kicking foot touched the ground.

That was over a decade ago. Linear kicks are starting to make a major comeback. People are no longer used to defending against them because a lot of fighters abandoned them to focus on leg kicks and because a missed or parried shot left the attacker in a bad position.

I love the back kick, especially the spinning back kick. Most of the people that I work stand up with are Muay Thai fighters. I generally use a combination of Taekwondo, Muay Thai and Savate when sparring and a back kick is usually easy to land if you preceed it with a feint and you don't overuse it. Otherwise you're right back to square 1.

In MMA I'd probably be much more carefull about using it than I would in a strictly stand up game, although I have seen footage of Rico Rodriguez using it quite effectively in... I believe it was the UFC.

[Dan Gun]

Like most of the techniques that you use in your fights or trainings, you have to make them in the right time.

The rear kick is great against aggressive an adversary who likes to enter in a straight line to the fight. Is good for that, and even greater as a counter strike against kicks like dollyo chagui.

[Xtschneider]

I guess I'd just pick a sidekick over a back kick. I believe the way I fight, it leaves me a lot less open.

[kuk sool won]

im guessing you don't strictly mean a back kick. The kick i think you're talking about in my view is quite effective, you can generate huge amounts of power especially during the twist. I view it like a slightly more aggressive back kick.

Oh and TKD_person89, theres no such thing as a TKD back kick, its a back kick.